This invention is a snow plow for use on large areas such as parking lots and airport runways, hereinafter referred to as a "wide snow plow".
A "wide snow plow" is wider than a snow plow used on streets and roads. Mounted on the bucket of a front end loader (its ordinary operating position), a wide snow plow cannot be driven from one site to another. In order to use such a plow at more than one site, it must be transported from place to place on a flatbed trailer.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,724,755 was issued to me on Mar. 10, 1998. A snow plow disclosed there includes a blade with horizontal and vertical reinforcing channels, a removable rubber edge fastened to the blade and extending below its bottom edge, and a side plate extending forward from each end of the blade. Side plates each include a removable wear shoe with inclined ramps for sliding contact on the ground surface. Upper and lower rows of posts extend rearward from the blade to form a slot for insertion of a front end loader bucket. The full disclosure of that earlier patent is incorporated herein by reference. The present invention includes elements of that system.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,723,609 is the most relevant prior art that I know of. It discloses a scraper (or plow) including a central blade member with end blade members pivotally connected on each end. The end blades are pivotable on the central blade to enclose or to grip a load or, with the addition of a bottom plate, to form a bucket.
An object of this invention to provide a wide snow plow which is foldable from an open configuration for use, to a closed configuration for road travel while still mounted on a front end loader.